LORETTO — Cole Doyle threw four touchdown passes in the first half, St. Francis (Pa.) built a 30-point lead in the first half and rolled to a 51-14 victory over in-state rival Duquesne on Saturday.
The victory was the eighth of the season for the Red Flash, the most wins in one season since the program moved to Division I in 1993. St. Francis and Merrimack, a 20-14 winner over Central Connecticut, both are 6-0 in NEC play and face each other next week in the regular season finale to determine the conference regular season title.
Because Merrimack is ineligible for the Football Championship Series playoffs, St. Francis had already clinched the NEC automatic berth.
Alex Schmoke kicked a 42-yard field goal to get the Red Flash on the board and Doyle hit Elijah Sarratt and Makai Jackson with touchdown passes from 10 yards out to make it 16-0 after a quarter and added two more TD passes to Hunter Brown in the second quarter to make it 30-0 at intermission.
John Courtney added a 19-yard pick-six to start the second half and Justin Sliwoski hit Sarratt with his second TD of the game and seventh in his last three games. Jordan Jackson’s 26-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter gave St. Francis its second 50-point game of the season.
